damon69 Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Hi folks, thanks for taking the time to read this. Any help or advice is most appreciated! My Rig is about a year and a half old, and has been a tremendous pleasure to build, tweak, mod, and overclock. However a couple of recent upgrades may have exposed a problem with my 1200i. I switched out a pair of ASUS HD 7850s XF in favor of first one, and later a second Gigabyte HD 7970 XF. Now Open Hardware Monitor and AIDA64 Extreme are showing my 3.3v Rail running at 3.296v. Until three days ago I had not seen any of the Rails dip nearly so much. I had enjoyed pretty rock solid numbers. My 12v and 5v Rails are also lower than they were, now running right at 12.0v and 5.0v under load. Before they maintained 12.096v, 5.049 and 3.36v during load. I realize that I'm worrying about tiny fluctuations, however I thought that such a high end, much touted 1200w PSU with such serious components and hefty Rails wouldn't be challenged by a system which is only pulling maybe 840w-900w at the absolute outside. Is this what should be expected? Or am I looking at a PSU in decline? Its actually my second PSU for this Rig so its only been running for about 6 months. My Rigs details will follow, and thank you again for your help and advice! i7 3770K(DeLid) @ 5.0GHz w/ 1.395v | 16GB (4x4) G. Skill 2666 TridentX @ Stock | ASUS MVF BIOS 1803 | 2x Gigabyte HD 7970 OC XF Mild OC locked voltage | 1 840 Pro 256 2 840 Pro 128 SSDs | WD BC 2TB HD | 16x BluRay RW | DVDRW | EK Custom Loop 1 Pump | 15 120mm Gentle Typhoons & Corsair PWM HP | Corsair 1200i ... I think that is everything that sucks power. Its all in a 900D and runs off of an APC Back UPS Pro I am tempted to try the little gizmo I bought awhile back that allows 2 PSUs to run together. Maybe put all of my fans, pump, and maybe GPUs on my 850w Corsair PSU. But geeze, I really hoped that I was buying the King Kong of PSUs when I got the 1200i... crap :[pouts: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhawn Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I use too worry all the time about my AX1200 using software to read voltage performance and it drove me crazy, Peanutz suggested I use a good digital multimeter, so I connected a meter to a spare sata plug and checked my voltages, also on a 4 pin molex, I did this when idle and under a large load as I use to have 2 GTX 580's but now have just 1 and a GTX 680. so after using a meter to monitor voltage I can say that software is not the way to go when you want true readings. it has now been over a year and my system is running perfect still, and I don't have to see the doctor for pills to lower my stress level over my power supply. :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I realize that I'm worrying about tiny fluctuations, however I thought that such a high end, much touted 1200w PSU with such serious components and hefty Rails wouldn't be challenged by a system which is only pulling maybe 840w-900w at the absolute outside. Is this what should be expected?It isn't being challenged at all. Your talking fluctuations of less than 4/100th's of a volt . Spec would be +/- 5%! The fact that it hasn't moved more than that is testament to their quality. there isn't a PSU on the market that isn't going to fluctuate some at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 Ahhhhh..... Thank you! You guys are the best! I can stop... er slow down the alcohol intake. :biggrin: I am in the process of doin the Multimeter thing. Just had to go buy a replacement as my old one somehow got crunched. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Now Open Hardware Monitor and AIDA64 Extreme are showing my 3.3v Rail running at 3.296v. Until three days ago I had not seen any of the Rails dip nearly so much. 2 things... 1. 3.296v is marvelous. You do realize that this is only .004v away from a perfect 3.3v right? The spec allows a 5% +/- variance. 2. Software voltage monitoring is notoriously bad. And, it is never a good idea to run 2 monitoring programs at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 Oh i understand how little the variance is. My worry stemmed from the fact that in terms of the numbers shown in the same programs for the last 6 months, things had suddenly dropped a bit righr after I added the second 7970. So rather than worrying about the number's distance from 3.3v or 12v, I was worried that they had dropped from 3.36v under load to 3.296, and from 12.096 to 12v which they had never done before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 I have always viewd software monitors as only useful in terms of reporting significant changes to baseline numbers. So the numbers may not be absolutely accurate, but if they are consistent then they are useful for catching aberrant swings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 and as far as two programs at the same time, I dont. Aida i use for its other functions, and when I read the numbers I again only look for changes from the norm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowbeard Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I have always viewd software monitors as only useful in terms of reporting significant changes to baseline numbers. So the numbers may not be absolutely accurate, but if they are consistent then they are useful for catching aberrant swings. True, I have used them the same way in the past. But, if you are using 2 or more, it can cause "weirdness" using 2 or more at the same time. They can interfere with each other and give very erroneous readings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 just used a multimeter and things do indeed seem to be fine. I diid get one reading off of the 12v that was low 11.46v, but I think it was a bad read on my part. I took it several more times and all the readings were solid. Thanks again fellas... just got a little freaked there lol. I very much enjoy having a 5GHz 2 7970 Rig, and I guess I'm a little over protective Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanutz94 Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 My worry stemmed from the fact that in terms of the numbers shown in the same programs for the last 6 months, things had suddenly dropped a bit righr after I added the second 7970 I wouldn't expect anything less. More hardware is more power and an increase on the load. But again, your talking minute amounts in your case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 Since you guys have been so generous with your advice... I thought maybe I'd get greedy and ask another question. :D: While trying to take advantage of Link with my 1200i, specifically the OVP multi-rail emulation feature, I tried to put load on my GPUs in order to identify which PCIe lines I should activate. However, it seems that when I do so 3-4 different lines show power use. Can you explain this to me? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WesternDreaming Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 hi hi, i can answer your pcie problem but you may not like the answer it has to do with your PLX chip and the way it divides your pcie lanes :( google what a multiplex chip does and then look at different boards with the plx chip then at the electrical diagrams for them it should become clear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damon69 Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 Oh crap, your right WesternDreaming. I used to know that, but I guess age is forcing my brain to delete files in order to make room. Thanks for the answer! I haven't been totally convinced I need the pseudo multi-rail feature, in any case. But maybe i'll try it for awhile. Thanks again everybody, I'm grateful for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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